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devas comments on Overconfident Pessimism - Less Wrong
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Comments (38)
It is true that the vast, vast majority of people don't take horoscopes seriously, but still, they do in fact take up resources which could be freed up and better employed elsewhere; even if it's just some guy working at a newspaper who can now enjoy some more time to edit his other articles, I think it would still be a better state for the world to be in.
I haven't done even the simplest back-of-the-envelope calculations for it, so take that statement as fuzzy and dubious.
Also, I suppose it just bugs me it is treated even jokingly as something that can work...I actually need to work on being more flexible and less rude/cruel/pedantic, I suppose.
What time of year you're born can have an impact on personality, due to environmental factors on early development. Also, newspaper horoscopes are a potentially useful source of nonspecific but authoritative-sounding advice to go out and do something. Enough people might need to be told that on a regular basis to justify the societal costs involved.
True, but I don't think the people writing horoscopes know or care about the influences your date of birth has or will have in your life. And as for the societal costs...I think they're worse than they appear at first glance, since they foster an attitude of "magic has been proven not to exist, but who cares, let's believe in it anyway!" of which I'm afraid
Totally. I was born near Christmas. This means I on average got slightly less presents. I may have been scarred for life. Or perhaps the trivial hardship prepared me for challenges and contributed to me accepting the unfairness of life. Something.